


On the Same Page

by blarkeontheark



Category: The Good Place (TV)
Genre: F/M, anyway they're idiots, guess who's not on the same page that's right it's these morons, jason might be written a little smarter than intended, slight elhani of course, tahani is captain of cheleanor, the TRUTH CUBE IS BACK, yes i am garbage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 15:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12633489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blarkeontheark/pseuds/blarkeontheark
Summary: Set directly after 2x08, Tahani confronts Eleanor about her feelings for Chidi. Meanwhile, Jason helps through Chidi work through his own feelings for Eleanor.





	On the Same Page

“We’re on the same page.”

Eleanor leaned forward, repeating the phrase one more time, elbows on the kitchen counter, staring morosely at the dizzying array of clowns decorating the corner of the living room.

Eleanor Shellstrop was not one to get in touch with her feelings. Just ask the Bed, Bath and Beyond employee who had witnessed her sobbing into a toilet plunger over a family of toothbrushes. But she know one thing for damn sure: as soon as Chidi had told her that he did not, in fact, have feelings for her, it had hit her like a ton of bricks over the head.

Janet could produce a million copies of various rebounds that all included some version of Tahani and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hell, Eleanor might even be down to hook up with Jason. (Ding-dong, but also a straight hottie.) But for some reason, the visions of Tahani’s glowing skin contrasting the color of that forking gorgeous wedding dress faded as soon as Eleanor’s eyes landed on the cassette cover of Cannonball Run II.

In short, she and Chidi were most definitely not on the same page. 

The tape was paused. Eleanor resisted the urge to press play again, as she’d done at least seventy times over the past week alone.

There was a soft knock at the door, and Eleanor hastily dove to cover the TV before she remembered that Chidi knew about the tape now, and she didn’t have to hide it. Then she winced inwardly, knowing that he must know now how many times he’d walked in on her watching it.

Over, and over, and over.

But it wasn’t Chidi after all, as Eleanor discovered when Tahani poked her head in, wearing a simple lavender dress and matching stilettos. Honestly, who needed that level of style with only three other people and a reforming demon who see what you wear? “Eleanor. Good, you’re here.”

“Hey, Tahani.” Glumly, Eleanor shoved the cassette under a bowl of apples. “What’s up? You and Jason talk?”

“The idea of marriage was absolutely preposterous, anyway,” Tahani said. “I shouldn’t have agreed to it. In a way, I’m sort of grateful that you all crashed our wedding and put that madness out of my head.”

“Hey. I don’t blame you, man—Jason’s a solid dude. Maybe not in terms of brain capacity, but he’s a nice guy. You guys probably would have been okay together.”

“Maybe.” Tahani perched on the couch as Eleanor carried over two cups of coffee. “But enough about Jason. I want to talk about Chidi.”

Eleanor blanched, burying her face in her cup. The coffee was hot, burning her tongue instantly, but she took a gulp to hide her expression. “Hmm?”

“Is he here?” Tahani glanced around the room. “No, I didn’t think so. Eleanor…I’m not blind, you know.”

“Not with those gorgeous eyes.” Aiming for levity, Eleanor tossed her a smile, barely restraining herself from adding finger guns. That definitely would have tipped Tahani off to something wrong. “What are you talking about?”

“I see the way you look at each other, when you think no one’s looking.” She flicked a curl off her shoulder, leaning forward dramatically. “Your whispered conversations, the way you always stand next to each other…”

Eleanor swallowed a lump in her throat. “There’s nothing going on between us.”

“For heaven’s sake, I know that.” Tahani rolled her eyes. “You cannot resist showboating. You would have said something if you were in a relationship. No, I’m talking about your feelings for each other. Your unspoken feelings.”

Eleanor bit her lip. “We don’t have unspoken feelings. Believe me, we just had this conversation.”

“What on earth brought that on?”

Eleanor hesitated, unsure if it was a secret.

“Eleanor.”

“Fine.” Eleanor stood up, abandoning her half-drunk coffee and marching over to the apple bowl. “For the love of God, Tahani, if you share this with anyone—”

“Meaning who, Jason or Michael? It’s not like I have a lot of options—”

“I will forking murder you in your sleep.” Eleanor yanked out the tape and handed it to Tahani, who looked dubious as she took a seat on the stool.

“Chidi mentioned that you loved Cannonball Run II, but I don’t see what this has to do with—“

“Give me that.” Eleanor shoved the tape into the slot and pressed play. Thankfully, the tape had not reset all the way to the beginning and was paused right before Eleanor’s confession.

Thankfully, Tahani didn’t say a single word as the tape rolled, not even as it cut out after Eleanor yelled at Mindy for filming them.

After a moment, the silence grew awkward.

“So…yeah,” Eleanor said quietly.

“My word,” Tahani breathed. “And Chidi knows about this?”

“He does now.”

Tahani opened her mouth, and then closed it.

“Look, it’s all fine,” Eleanor said, mustering cheer. “Really. We talked about it, and he said he doesn’t have any feelings for me, and I told him that we were on the same page—“

“There it is.” Tahani shot to her feet, towering over Eleanor, who was still sitting. “That look.”

“What look?” Eleanor scoffed. 

“You’re in love with Chidi.”

“No, I’m not.”

And if she hadn’t known before, she did now. Because never let it be said that Eleanor Shellstrop could not tell the difference between a truth and a lie. 

Ignoring the denial, Tahani lowered her voice, sitting down again and taking Eleanor’s hand. “You’re in love with Chidi.”

To Eleanor’s horror, she felt tears rising to her eyes. “It’s so stupid,” she said, voice cracking. “He’s so stupid. He’s just this dumb ethics professor, with his stupid nerd glasses and his paralyzing inability to make decisions—“

“How many people have you said that to?” Tahani asked quietly.

“Stone Cold Steve Austin,” Eleanor mumbled tearfully, causing Tahani to let out a small, unladylike snort.

“You love him, Eleanor.”

“He doesn’t love me.” Eleanor brushed a stray droplet of water off her cheek. “That’s all that matters. It doesn’t make a difference how I feel about him if he doesn’t love me.”

Tahani’s expression grew soft. “Listen, Eleanor. Chidi does love you.”

“He—“

“Chidi loves you. He said it right there.” Tahani indicated the videotape. “He just doesn’t know he loves you.”

“I…” Eleanor trailed off. “I don’t know.”

“Give it some time,” she said confidently. “I guarantee this will work itself out. And if not, I’m spectacularly good at playing Cupid—I once set up my good friends Ryan and Blake, and they’re still together. In fact, people on Instagram and Buzzfeed have repeatedly referred to them as ‘couple goals.’ I’m a natural, really.”

Despite herself, Eleanor smiled slightly. “Thanks Tahani.”

“Anytime.” Tahani stood up. “I’d best be off, then. I told Jason I was going out for eggs, since Janet seems to be offline at the moment after her mess of a boyfriend went terribly wrong—do you have any eggs I can borrow?”

“Yeah, sure.” Eleanor crossed over to the fridge, handing Tahani a carton of eggs. “See you later, hot stuff.”

Smiling slightly, Tahani shut the door behind her.

…

“We’re on the same page.”

Jason squinted at Chidi as the two sat, side by side, a good distance out of earshot of the house. Chidi had told Eleanor he was going to talk to Michael, but really he just needed time to think.

The look on Eleanor’s face when he left…it made him want to hide under a rock and not return for seven thousand years. But it also drew him back to her. 

It was incredible, really, how her presence was so noticeable. Of course it was, since she was his closest friend. She always seemed to glow, like the sun burned from within her directly.

Chidi squinted at the sky. Somehow, the sun up there was less than comparable. 

“Dude, listen to me for a second.” Jason leaned forward, squirming uncomfortably in his Buddhist monk robes. “You are not on the same page. You’re not even in the same book. You’re in a separate…book place.”

“Do you mean a library?” Chidi shook his head. “I don’t have feelings for Eleanor, man. She’s a friend. A really good one.”

“Didn’t you just say you had sex with her, like, ten times?”

“That’s what she said,” Chidi said dully. “I mean, I almost wouldn’t believe her if it weren’t for that tape.”

“I don’t think she’d lie about something like this.” Jason shrugged. “Homie, if you didn’t like her, you wouldn’t be hiding from her right now.”

“I’m not hiding from her.” Chidi winced as soon as the lie escaped. “Okay, maybe I am. But it’s not because I…have feelings for her.”

When Jason didn’t respond, Chidi looked up to see if he was still listening. He wasn’t, of course, fiddling with a cattail and humming under his breath.

“Jason.”

“Huh? Oh, so are you gonna tell her you’re in love with her?”

“I’m not in love with Eleanor!”

“Okay.” Jason hopped to his feet. “I know what we have to do.”

“If you go running to Eleanor, I swear to God—“

“Nah, this is good. Just trust me.”

Was he really taking advice from Jason Mendoza? Jason, who had once set fire to a guy’s boat? Jason, who had once married Janet?

“Okay,” Chidi sighed. “Why not. We’re already dead, I suppose, so nothing you do can get us killed.”

“Dope. Okay, let’s go.”

…

“Have you seen Michael?”

Tahani was back at her door less than ten minutes after she’d left.

“Did you check his office?” Eleanor asked.

“What a brilliant thought,” Tahani said sarcastically. “Yes, I’ve checked his office. And all the frozen-yogurt places. Can you think of anywhere else he could be?”

“He’s not rebooting Janet, is he?” Eleanor asked, alarmed. 

“I doubt it. That would only make her more likely to create another Derek. Speaking of boyfriends…” Tahani glanced around. “I can’t find Jason.”

“Where do you think he is?” Eleanor asked.

“With Michael, maybe?” Tahani asked. 

“Chidi wanted to go talk to Michael, too,” Eleanor recalled. “Maybe Jason went looking for Janet.”

“Let’s go back to Michael’s office, then,” Tahani said. “We can wait for him there, and maybe intercept the boys.”

Eleanor offered an arm. “Shall we?”

“Would you stop flirting with me?” Tahani said, her tone slightly exasperated.

“Not in this lifetime. Or, more accurately, not in this round of being tortured in a demon realm.”

…

“Michael?”

They were standing outside Michael’s office, the bright green letters behind them screaming that everything was fine. Chidi didn’t think he’d ever been less fine in his life. 

“Listen,” Chidi started, “I don’t think Michael will be able to help me, but I appreciate the sentiment—“

“I don’t think it’s made out of sediment,” Jason interrupted. “She said it was made out of something not on Earth. And sediment is definitely on Earth.”

“I said sentiment. And—what?”

“Come on.” Jason burst into the office, heading straight for the desk. Thankfully, the room was empty.

“Jason, man, what are you—“

“Found it!” Jason, who had been rummaging around in one of the drawers, pulled out a box. It was a plain white cube that seemed to let off a shimmering glow.

“What the fork is that?” 

“Janet told me about it. It looks like the stuff they make the lightsabers out of, like, in Star Wars—“

“Jason. What does it do?”

“Oh, that.” He set the cube on the desk. “Tell it a lie.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Homie.”

“Okay. Uh…” He closed his eyes, thinking frantically. “I stopped using almond milk after I heard about the negative environmental impacts.”

The cube gave an irritating honk and turned bright red. Chidi’s eyes widened.

“Yo, nice. Okay, tell it something real.”

Intrigued, Chidi hummed thoughtfully. “I love reading Kant’s work.”

The cube turned green and let out a small blip. 

“Shirt, that’s dope,” Jason enthused.

“Okay. This is…interesting,” Chidi said slowly. “But how does this help—oh.”

“You just gotta ask if you like Eleanor, and it’ll tell you if you’re right or wrong, and then—“

“No,” Chidi said firmly. “I’m not asking a cube if it thinks I’m in love with Eleanor.”

“Because you’re afraid of what might happen if it says you are?”

Chidi opened his mouth, then closed it.

Shockingly enough, Jason was right. And he couldn’t contradict him with lying. Once again.

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Okay. Uh…I’m not in love with Eleanor.”

…

“I don’t see Michael or the guys,” Eleanor complained. “You also look far too happy. Vicky’s going to torture you next.”

“Let her. She can only conjure up fashion catastrophes, anyway. She’s got no originality.” Tahani paused outside the door, which was a crack open. “Listen, I hear voices!”

Eleanor stopped to glance inside. “It’s Chidi and Jason. And they’re…really fascinated with something on the desk.”

As she watched, it glowed green, and Jason whooped. “That’s dope.”

Eleanor fell back, pressing her ear to the door. Tahani, taking a cue, stepped out of sight of the doorway to listen in.

“I’m not asking a cube if it thinks I’m in love with Eleanor.”

“Cube?” Tahani mouthed. “What cube?”

Heart pounding, Eleanor recalled a conversation she’d had recently with Jason—a one-way conversation, really, but she’d picked up a few things, such as the fact that Michael supposedly possessed a cube in his desk that could definitively detect a truth and a lie.

Chidi was in there, consulting this cube. About her.

“Because you’re afraid of what might happen if it says you are?” Jason asked.

Eleanor squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out Tahani’s shocked expression.

“Okay.” Chidi sounded panicked. Eleanor’s heart jumped in her chest. “Okay. I’m not in love with Eleanor.”

Eyes flying open, Eleanor dove forward just as the cube blinked.

…

It was…

Red. 

Red, as in that he was…not…not in love with her.

So, that meant…

Chidi’s brain, for one of the few times in his life, was completely frozen. Frozen enough that it felt like he'd ascended into another plane of existence. So frozen, in fact, that he was able to tune out not only Jason yelling and chanting beside him, but also Tahani, in his face, demanding that he tell her exactly when he’d started having feelings for Eleanor, and finally, Eleanor in front of him, white-faced and silent.

As his brain kicked back into gear, he shoved past the three of them and took off, running out of the office and trying to look as normal as possible as he ducked into an empty frozen yogurt shop and tried to catch his breath.

And desperately trying not to think of the look on Eleanor’s face.

…

It was almost dark when she found him. 

He still had the vacant, slightly terrified expression as when he’d run out on them in Michael’s office, except he was staring into a bowl of kiwi frozen yogurt piled with raisins and Junior Mints. 

“Hey, bud.” Eleanor slid into a chair across from him. “Is that the Chidi-is-panicking special?”

“I…” Chidi didn’t look up. “Just tell me, Eleanor. Tell me that you don’t love me, and we can all move on. I’ll get over you. I shouldn’t have even tried to figure out my feelings in the first place.”

“Why would I do that?”

He looked up. “Because you don’t.”

“Who said that?”

“You! Five hours ago!”

Smiling slightly, she reached inside her coat and pulled out a familiar object.

Setting the cube on the table between them, she leaned forward and adopted a serious tone.

“Chidi Anagonye,” she said quietly. “I am in love with you. I don’t know how long I’ve been in love with you, or how many different lives I’ve been in love with you, or how many lives I will be, but I hope it will be all of them, because I am in love with you.”

He leaned across the table to kiss her as the cube turned green.

Finally, they were on the same page.

**Author's Note:**

> tgp tumblr: @eleanorshellstr0p  
> main tumblr: @natblid-a


End file.
